Same building, different prices: Moroccan study finds 57% gap in price per square metre
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A study by Moroccan property platform Agenz of nine sales in a single 2020-delivered residence found price-per-square-metre differences of up to 57%, showing that floor level, views and layout can matter more than a neighbour's sale price.
Two apartments in the same building can sell for significantly different prices even when they were built by the same developer and handed over in the same year. A study by Moroccan real estate platform Agenz found a 57% difference in price per square metre between the highest- and lowest-priced apartments in one residence.
Agenz analysed nine completed sales in a complex delivered in 2020, made up of two buildings around a central courtyard: one overlooking the courtyard and a street, the other facing the courtyard and a public pedestrian palm grove. Prices ranged from MAD 1.4 million to MAD 6.1 million.
In the first building, a two-bedroom apartment on the 13th floor sold for MAD 1.92 million, or MAD 27,138 per square metre, while another two-bedroom unit on the sixth floor sold for MAD 1.51 million, or MAD 20,828 per square metre. A first-floor two-bedroom apartment reached MAD 25,326 per square metre despite limited sunlight. In the second building, a first-floor two-bedroom flat recorded the lowest figure in the sample at MAD 17,231 per square metre, while a ninth-floor four-bedroom apartment with an open view of the palm grove sold for MAD 3.29 million, or MAD 26,721 per square metre - roughly 55% above the cheapest unit.
The findings show that floor level alone does not explain value. Three two-bedroom apartments of between 74 and 76 square metres in the same building recorded prices of MAD 20,828 to MAD 27,138 per square metre, with the sixth-floor unit cheaper per square metre than those on the first and 13th floors. The two largest apartments in the sample, at 295 and 299 square metres, posted relatively low prices per square metre despite higher floors, sunlight or open views - partly because terraces and outdoor areas carry less weight in the weighted calculation.
Agenz calculated prices using a weighted price per square metre that accounts for differences between indoor areas, terraces, balconies and parking, applying deductions in line with the methodology of Morocco's National Agency for Land Conservation, Cadastre and Cartography (ANCFCC). The company cautioned that the nine transactions illustrate differences within a single residence and should not be read as a national market statistic.
The study also drew a distinction between completed sales and asking prices. Because the final amount depends on the seller's urgency, time on the market, buyer financing and negotiating power, the platform argued that a neighbour's sale is only one reference point and that a reliable valuation requires comparing several properties and weighing indoor and outdoor areas, floor, orientation, light, views and privacy.